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6/27/18

Exploring Georgia Through Little Passports

Time for another Little Passports adventure! This time, our virtual trip took us to Georgia. I have never been to Georgia unless you count airport layovers, which I do not. If I did count layovers, I'd have several trips to Georgia under my belt, which is not surprising since Atlanta is the busiest airport in the United States. (Fun fact: I've flown to/from 28 of the 30 airports on this list and will add one more, Detroit, later this summer. The only other airport I haven't flown from is Logan in Boston.) Anyway, my point in all this is that Atlanta is well-known for having a really busy airport. In fact, the model for the Georgia Little Passports state journal is of an air traffic control tower!

But, of course, there's SO much more to Georgia than the airport. For example, peaches! Trevor and I jumped right into the cooking project because we didn't want to wait to eat some Georgia peach cobbler. Yum!

Did you know that Atlanta is home to the largest aquarium in the world? We didn't! We also learned that Atlanta is one of the largest media centers in the US, with dozens of TV and radio stations, newspapers, and online job opportunities. That activity had Trevor writing news leads for stories, each with the Five W's. Then we solved a matching puzzle about the Civil War sites in Georgia, which was one of the 11 states of the Confederacy. We did a map activity about Savannah's historic district, learned about the animals (and carnivorous plants!) of the Okefenokee swamp.

Next, we did an activity inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who was born in Atlanta in 1929. Trevor dreams that, "Schools will be safe places where there is no bullying or danger." I couldn't agree more. School has always been a happy place for me, as a student, then a teacher, and now a parent. It is appalling to me, and completely unacceptable, that any child would feel unsafe at school. Trevor does feel completely safe at school, thankfully, and has never been the target of bullying.

The science experiment in the Georgia state journal is inspired by the Forsyth Park's fountain in Savannah. Trevor used my beloved Fiskars hand drill (affiliate link) to make a hole in the side of an empty apple juice container.

He put a straw in the hole and sealed it with aquarium sealant (affiliate link). When it was dry, he filled the bottle with water, put an inflated balloon over the top, and.... well, better for to see for yourselves!

Trevor and I had a great time learning all about Georgia through Little Passports. When we eventually travel there, we're going to have a very hard time narrowing down all the fabulous things there are to see and do. I guess we'll need to make sure to devote plenty of days to this very interesting state!